Bull Spec events newsletter April 2012

Well. There’s been a lot going on since February’s newsletter, and there’s a lot coming up just around the corner including this Sunday’s NC Speculative Fiction Night at Durham’s Sci-Fi Genre Comics & Games. But before I get to the events, some back-patting and congratulations:

Mur Lafferty announced the sale of her novel,The Shambling Guide to New York City, to Orbit, for 2013 publication in a 2-book deal. Congrats, Mur!

The annual Locus Recommended Reading list included M. David Blake’s “Absinthe Fish”, published in Bull Spec #5 — this is absolutely awesome, and until Sunday April 15 you can vote for the story (among voting for your favorite novels and magazines, some of which, cough cough, you may have to write in) in their annual poll and survey. You don’t have to be a Locus subscriber to vote, so make your voice heard!

This year’s Hugo nominations included Bull Spec contributors Kij Johnson and Daniel M. Kimmel, and Mur Lafferty is one of the nominees for The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer — if you are a member (attending or supporting) of this year’s World Con, don’t forget to vote!

Jeremy Whitley’s writing work on the comic Princeless has been recognized with not just one but two Eisner Award nominations, for Best Single Issue and Best Publication for Kids — Jeremy is the writer of the current Bull Spec-serialized graphic short “The Long Lives of Heroes”

And, at long last at least for me, Bull Spec #7 is printed, cut, stapled, folded, packaged, and shipped. Boxes of Bull Spec #7 are on their way to my house right now! This is a very good feeling. Issues should make their way into stores and to subscribers in the coming weeks, starting with their debut this Sunday. I hope to see a lot of you there, and thank you so much for your support — and patience.

-Sam

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

James Maxey’s Greatshadow in print and e-book from Solaris (January)

Gail Z. Martin’s The Dread in print and e-book from Orbit (January) and in audiobook from Tantor (February)

Tony Daniel’s Guardian of Night, in print and e-book from Baen and in audiobook from Audible (February)

NEW-NEW: 13-17 (Wednesday through Sunday) — The North American Jules Verne Society will hold its 2012 annual meeting in Marion, NC, near the site of the Great Eyry referenced in Verne’s novel Master of the World. More info: http://www.najvs.org/meetings.shtml

1 — Local editor new anthology: Raleigh author and anthologist John Kessel’s latest anthology (co-edited with James Patrick Kelly) to be released: Digital Rapture: The Singularity Anthology from Tachyon Publications.

TBD — Local author new novel: Raleigh authors Clay and Susan Griffith conclude their Vampire Empire series with book 3, The Kingmakers, after 2010’s The Greyfriar and 2011’s The Rift Walker, from Pyr Books. More info: http://clayandsusangriffith.blogspot.com/

NEW-NEW: TBD — Local author new novel: J.L. Hilton’s Stellarnet Prince, sequel to January’s Stellarnet Rebel, to be published by Carina Press.

JANUARY 2013

NEW: 11-13 (Friday to Sunday) — illogiCon 2 will be held at the Embassy Suites of Raleigh-Durham/Research Triangle on January 11-13, 2013, with writer guest of honor Tim Powers and webcomic guest of honor Garth Graham: http://www.illogicon.com/

CHECK OUT

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 27 (Thursday) 6 pm -- Flyleaf Books hosts Megan Shepherd and John Claude Bemis for their new middle-grade novelsThe Secret Horses of Briar Hill and The Wooden Prince. Megan Shepherd grew up in her family’s independent bookstore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of several acclaimed young adult books, and The Secret Horses of Briar Hill is her debut middle-grade novel. Shepherd lives and writes on a 125-year-old farm outside Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, two cats, and a dog. John Claude Bemis is an award-winning author, musician, and educator. His novels include The Prince Who Fell from the Sky and the Clockwork Dark Trilogy. He received the Excellence in Teaching Award from UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Education for his work in the schools as an author-educator and served as North Carolina’s Piedmont Laureate in 2013. John lives with his wife and daughter in Hillsborough, NC.